The Buffalo Bills (10-3) came into Sunday’s game at the Los Angeles Rams (7-6) looking to keep their winning streak alive as they continued an incredible season for their franchise. Despite dealing with some key injuries to players like wide receiver Keon Coleman (wrist) and tight end Dalton Kincaid (knee), Buffalo put up a huge fight against Los Angeles, but it was too little, too late for them in their comeback bid in Week 14.
The Bills lost at the Rams, 44-42, despite getting arguably quarterback Josh Allen’s best game of his career-to-date, if not one of them, with the way that he was passing and running the football. On the other side, Buffalo’s defense did not show up to play as they allowed Los Angeles 457 yards of offense, including allowing wide receiver Puka Nacua to go off for 178 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.
In the end, even with Allen scoring six touchdowns of his own, the Bills’ offense was playing catch up for the entire game due to the slow start along with the defense not being able to get stops when they needed to.
Without further ado, here is the Bills’ stock report following Sunday’s loss at the Rams:
Stock Up: QB Josh Allen
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Allen had his best game of the season as he threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns while also running the football 10 times for 82 yards and three more scores. The offense was a one-man show as Allen did not get any help from the running game, but the way that he was able to put the team on his back has many in the NFL space chanting his name for MVP.
Stock Down: Defense
Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
No matter what the Bills tried to do on the defensive side of the ball, they couldn’t stop the Rams in any facet of the game. Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford had a mostly-clean pocket on his way to throwing for 320 yards and two touchdowns, running back Kyren Williams ran the ball 29 times for 87 yards and two touchdowns, and wide receiver Puka Nacua went nuclear with his performance. This was the worst performance by Buffalo’s defense in quite some time.
Stock Up: Receiving Corps
Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
Led by wide receiver Khalil Shakir, the Bills’ passing offense was running on all cylinders despite the running not generating much of anything outside of Allen. Shakir and Amari Cooper won their 1-on-1 matchups throughout the game and even players like wide receiver Mack Hollins and running Ty Johnson found seams in the Rams’ pass defense for some scores of their own in what was a collaborative effort in the receiving game.
Stock Down: RB James Cook
Harry How/Getty Images
Cook had his least-effective game of the season as he couldn’t make much happen on the ground against a Rams defense that came into the game as one of the worse units in defending the run. Given that the Bills fell behind by 17 points in the third quarter, Cook did not get many rushing attempts due to Buffalo abandoning the run, but he also racked up just two catches for nine yards in the receiving game.
Stock Up: CB Christian Benford
Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images
While he was part of a defensive backfield that provided little resistance to the likes of Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, Benford was somewhat disruptive in the passing game as he had the only two pass deflections for the team. Benford has been of of the team’s best cornerbacks and while Sunday was not a great example of that for anybody on the defense, the Rams’ offense is one of the best in the NFL for a reason.
Stock Down: DE Greg Rousseau
Steph Chambers/Getty Images
In a game where the entire defensive line for the Bills was suspect in the best-case scenario, Rousseau was disappointing due to his overall ineffectiveness against Los Angeles’ offensive line. Not only did Rousseau not get to quarterback Matthew Stafford at all, but he also had no impact in stopping the run or even being disruptive at the line of scrimmage.
